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Jailbreak - WaterClan Style
Episode 2, Season 5 of War. Enjoy! Jailbreak - WaterClan Style The last time I saw Badgerstrike, he was in FireClan, helping them scheme how to get EarthClan involved in the war. The last time I saw Badgerstrike, Adderscar was will me, yelling at his mentor. The last time I saw Badgerstrike, I told him Silverflower was dead. I told him it was his fault. He looks worse for the wear. His pelt is covered in healing scars and he looks a little on edge. I clear my throat, "You need to leave. If any of the others...if Adderscar sees you..." I take a deep breath. "You have to go. You've hurt us too much and if you stay here a second longer you'll hurt us even worse." "Wow," he gives a purr, eyes dark and sad. "You've grown up Brookfall. You used to be so shy." The way he says it, he reminds me of my father and that's what makes me falter. "Why are you here?" I whisper. Badgerstrike looks at his paws, "I heard what happened to Shadowsong and your medicine cat... I thought I should help." "You've helped us enough," I look up to see Gorsefur. His eyes are liquid fire and I pad over to him. He glances at me, "You were taking a while, so I came to find you," he explains. Badgerstrike doesn't say anything, he just looks at his former second. Gorsefur presses on, "She's right. You need to go." "Just let me explain. Where are you camping?" Badgerstrike begs. It's so strange, hearing my fearless commander, my bossy, insufferable commander asking us to do something. "No!" Gorsefur shouts. Badgerstrike flinches and he composes himself. "Look. Oakclaw's in a bad place because of Shadowsong and Adderscar's...depressed enough, without you showing up." "Please," Badgerstrike asks softly, once more. Gorsefur opens his mouth, shaking his head, but I cut in. "Sure," Badgerstrike perks up and Gorsefur glares at me. "I'm your second now!" I defend. "I can make some decisions!" Muttering, Gorsefur turns and stalks back to camp. I follow and Badgerstrike does the same. The camp is in a disarray. Ragged pieces of moss are spread out, the toms sleeping on them. Oakclaw pricks his ear and looks up as we get close, "If you guys wanted to make out, you should've just told us. What if I got up and had to see-" he trails off as he sees Badgerstrike. "What is it?" Stormflight mutters, eyes still closed. Adderscar is, luckily, still asleep. "Badgerstrike," Oakclaw meows, aghast. He doesn't look angry or sad or...anything, really. Just shocked. "Whozzat?" Stormflight asks, still half-asleep. Badgerstrike ignores him. "We need to talk." We let Stormflight sleep and no one opts to wake up Adderscar. So it's just Oakclaw, Gorsefur, and I listening as Badgerstrike talks. "After EarthClan got involved...I got myself together. I realized I'd made a mistake and that Ro- Firestar...wasn't the same cat he was. He wasn't my best friend. I was trying to decide what to do- start spying? Try to get back to WaterClan? Go into the Wilds? Firestar caught on though. His protection was the only thing separating me from our mutual friend Thundercloud's hatred. Less than a day after he told me he knew I was having second thoughts, Thundercloud attacked me. I got away, but barely." "We just saw him," Gorsefur meows, "He was the one who stole Grayleaf and Shadowsong." Badgerstrike nods. "He was looking for his son, right? Stormflight?" Gorsefur nods towards where the gray tom sleeps. "That's him." Badgerstrike falls silent, eyes on the sleeping cat. I wonder what he's thinking. Badgerstrike was supposed to be Stormflight's mother's mate, but she fell in love with Thundercloud. Apparently it was their fault she died. Stormflight saw it happen. "We need to rescue Grayleaf," Gorsefur finally says. Badgerstrike nods. "I can get you in the prison. I can help you get him out." "What do you want for that?" Oakclaw asks. "Nothing," Badgerstrike meows. "Please just...don't let Adderscar know I'm helping you. Or Stormflight." We look at each other and I say, "And after that?" "I'm going to the Wilds." Badgerstrike meows sadly. "I don't belong anywhere." My heart aches for him for a moment. I was the first one he recounted his sordid history for. He trusted me enough for that, I can trust him with this. He's not a bad cat- just a lonely, broken, shell of one. "Okay," Gorsefur meows. "What's the plan?" "Why do we have to go again?" Lionwing moaned. Snowflight rolled her eyes. "It's been a week since we dropped off the medicine cat, we're obliged to go check up on him. Beside, Red Rocks is due for an inspection." "Boring," Lionwing muttered. She looked over to her right, "Don't you think so, little sister?" "I have a name you know," Shadowsong muttered. In the week since she'd been kidnapped/adopted by her sisters, she'd been struggling to adjust. Not just to them, but to her new frame of mind. It was nice to have sisters again. "It's not my fault I'm older," Lionwing meowed airily. "And I'm older than you," Snowflight pointed out. They all purred and Shadowsong stopped to stretch. A week ago, that would've drawn attention, but now Lionwing and Snowflight just slowed a little so she could catch up. That gave her a little pang of sadness, but she had learned to bury those feelings. If they suspected she was even a little unhappy, they would kill Oakclaw. And, try as she had, she found herself...feeling happy. She didn't want to be FireClan. But she had already lost one sister, she didn't want to lose two more. Red Rocks rose before them- the trademark scarlet boulders painting the sunrise an even deeper shade of crimson. Shadowsong felt her breath being stolen away. In WaterClan, beauty was waterfalls and greens and blues. In FireClan, she was learning to see the reds, the oranges, the stark beauty. They padded into the camp the FireClan guards waving them towards the barracks. Shadowsong stopped, unable to help herself as her heart began to hammer with hope. She could smell them. They were here. Immediately she wanted to find them. Chase them down and cry and press against them. And then scream at them to leave. Lionwing stopped as well. She turned, then circled back to Shadowsong, her nose twitching. No... Her eyes lit up, "Looks like we have some visitors, huh?" Her smirk was wide and Shadowsong felt her heart fall. "Lionwing-" she darted in front of her sister. "You promised. You can't hurt them." Lionwing's face started to contort in anger, but then she purred, "Of course not! We just have to stop them from getting their medicine cat." They're not here for me, Shadowsong thought, grateful and disappointed all at once. "Let's go," Lionwing called, even though she was the one holding them up. Shadowsong slowly followed her to the barracks, trying to think of a way out. "I can't believe this worked," Adderscar muttered. "I mean, how did you guys know when they switched guards?" Gorsefur and I exchange a glance. "Just lucky, I guess," Gorsefur shrugs. Adderscar narrows his eyes, but we keep walking into the cool, dark cave, that serves as the Red Rocks medicine den. Badgerstrike did it. All of it. He knew when the guards would switch, how to get to the medicine den...everything. But we couldn't tell Adderscar or Stormflight. A few cats pad around, WaterClan and FireClan alike. I try to scent for Grayleaf, but I can't find him amid all the scents. I look to Adderscar, the best tracker, hopelessly. His eyes are closed in concentration, but they spring open, the green luminous in the dark. "This way," he murmurs. We head to the back of the huge cave until I can smell it too. Gorsefur runs forward, "Grayleaf!" A gray tom looks up and his eyes brighten. He charges towards us and tackles Gorsefur. "I knew you'd find me!" Stormflight tackles the little tom off Gorsefur. "You're an idiot," Stormflight says drily. Grayleaf purrs and gets up and they nudge each other affectionately. "Grayleaf?" We freeze and look up to see a FireClan guard looking at us. "Who are they?" Grayleaf just waves cheerfully, "Just some friends, Brindlepelt." The guard nods and Oakclaw rolls his eyes, "Of course you made friends with the guards. Only you." Grayleaf looks at his paws bashfully, then looks back up, panicked. "Guys, you're here to rescue me, right?" "No, we figured we'd just leave you here," Adderscar meows sarcastically. "Sorry." "I mean," Grayleaf takes a deep breath, then eyes us seriously. "We have to rescue everyone." A beat of silence. "What?" Stormflight asks. "Everyone," Grayleaf repeats. "This place isn't good, and there are so many soldiers here-" "The last jailbreak I was involved with didn't go so well," Oakclaw notes. "To be specific, I was knocked out and my girlfriend almost died." "Grayleaf, that's sweet," I meow. "But you can't always save everyone." Setting his jaw stubbornly, the little medicine cat glares at Gorsefur. "You agree with me, right?" Haunted, Gorsefur shakes his head. "I can't lose anyone else," he whispers. Grayleaf's eyes widen and he looks at his paws in disappointment. "Fine," he mutters. He turns back around, "Brindlepelt, I'm taking a break!" The FireClan guard waves her tail and we head out into the sunlight. Gorsefur leads us back to the grassy field we started in and we all flop down to the ground. "As far as missions go," Oakclaw meowed, "That was probably the easiest." "Medicine cats are important, I'm telling you guys," Grayleaf says. He pokes Stormflight, "You guys better not take me for granted." Gorsefur's not talking and I follow his gaze to a clump of trees where I can see Badgerstrike waiting, in the shadows. Gorsefur shakes his head at him and the commander ducks back into the bushes. No one else notices. That night, I wake up. I don't remember much of the nightmare- just that I was screaming and screaming and someone was dying, their blood drowning me. I sit up, breathing heavily and look around at my sleeping squadmates. Except some of them aren't there. Stormflight and Grayleaf's nests are empty. Considering how often we seemed to get kidnapped, my thoughts immediately go to Thundercloud. But I don't smell anyone else. I follow their scent trail and realize that it mingles with someone else's- Badgerstrike's. Gritting my teeth, I go to wake up Gorsefur and Oakclaw. Snowflight wanted to sleep. But Lionwing and Shadowsong wanted to patrol, she she was outvoted. Grumbling, she trailed after them like a ghost as they made their rounds around the camp. "Before you came along, we'd always tie," Lionwing confided. Shadowsong purred, only to be cut short when Lionwing continued. "I'm so glad to have a sister who's just like me." Am I like her? The prisoners in their dens were quiet, asleep or pretending. Lionwing looked at them with an air of superiority. Snowflight didn't seem upset, but she wasn't giddy. Shadowsong knew the she-cat was insanely loyal to FireClan, but she wasn't as apathetic as she looked. It started to rain with a flash of lightning and a crack of thunder. Shadowsong was about to announce that she'd changed her vote when she noticed something. "Are these dens supposed to be empty?" "I don't think so," Lionwing padded over and peered at them. Her eyes narrowed. "Escapees." The squad! The golden she-cat strode forward, her eyes thunderous. Shadowsong and Snowflight scrambled after her. Lionwing rounded a corner and whispered, "Found you." Shadowsong found herself face to face with Grayleaf, Stormflight, and...Badgerstrike? "You're all going to rot," Lionwing snarled. She crouched, but Shadowsong jumped in front of her. "You promised you wouldn't hurt them," she said, breathlessly. "Fine!" Lionwing snapped. "You get them out of here, or make me a promise-breaker." Gulping, Shadowsong turned to her squadmates. "You guys have to leave," she said in a low voice. "We're rescuing everyone though!" Grayleaf protested. "You can come with us!" She shook her head. "They...I can't. Sorry kit." She forced herself to crouch, hating herself. "You have to leave. Now." Stormflight tacked her. Grayleaf yowled, 'What do you think you're doing?!" Badgerstrike called something too, but it was lost in the storm. Shadowsong smacked him on the muzzle and shoved him off. She was by far the superior fighter, but she didn't really want to hurt him. And Snowflight was right there, her eyes tortured. "Stop it!" Grayleaf commanded his best friend. "She started it!" Stormflight protested. "Oh, this is ridiculous," Lionwing rolled her eyes. She lunged for Grayleaf, who looked at Shadowsong with wide eyes. Shadowsong froze, uncertain. And then Lionwing was flying away and Oakclaw crashed down where she stood. He looked up and saw Shadowsong, a mop of wet fur covering one of his wide eyes in the rain. Gorsefur and Brookfall caught up with him and Shadowsong realized everything was going to the Dark Forest. It's them. Shadowsong, Lionwing, Snowflight. We passed all the empty dens of the cats Stormflight, Grayleaf, and Badgerstrike saved and when we went through areas that still had cats in them, we told them to run. And now we're facing off. Lionwing stalks back to stand by her sisters and Shadowsong's eyes are wide, looking at each of us. She looks sorry. But she doesn't look sad. "This camp is coming down tonight," Gorsefur shouts, to be heard over the storm. Lionwing snarls and I feel a prickle of fear. What if she hurt Shadowsong? She seems to like her sister, but she was taught by Thundercloud... I nod to Grayleaf, Stormflight, and Badgerstrike. Understanding, they nod back and pelt off to free the rest of the cats. Lionwing tenses, to go after them, but we block her path. Three versus three. But there's no way we could win, even if Shadowsong had a change of heart and helped us. And then the weirdest thing happens. Lightning skewers the sky again, but this time, it paints the camp too. I watch in mingled horror and fascination as a tree is struck, burning. The fire spreads, quicker than I would have thought possible. The rain slows it, makes it sputter and steam. But it still comes for us. A tree in between two of the dens, a small birch tree, catches fire too. It groans and I feel Gorsefur slam into me as it falls. "Thanks," I whisper, my voice lost to the wind as Gorsefur and I get up. I can see Shadowsong, Snowflight, and Lionwing on the other side. Separated by fire. Lionwing whispers something and they vanish. Oakclaw lets out a cry and tries to chase after, but we manage to stop him. "We have to go!" I yowl. Slowly, we make our way out of the camp. By the time we do, the fire's almost out, but all of us are coughing from smoke inhalation. We meet Grayleaf, Badgerstrike, and Stormflight and watch the stream of liberated WaterClan cats get out of Red Rocks. "Another successful mission," Stormflight rasps. We all purr. "How did you guys find Badgerstrike?" Gorsefur asks. "I was up because I was planning to go rescue some cats anyways," Grayleaf meows shamelessly. "And they were talking, so we all went." "What were you talking about?" I look at them. "Nothing," they meow at the same time. We all stay there for a few moments, breathing heavy and hacking. And then I hear a voice that makes my heart seize up a little. "What is he doing here?" We all, slowly, look up and see Adderscar. Glaring at Badgerstrike. Stormflight was thinking about what Badgerstrike had said to him. After they got past the whole 'who are you and why are you watching my squad from the trees' thing, it was awkward. But Badgerstrike had broken that. "I know it probably doesn't matter," he'd said. "But Gorsefur told me about how hard it is for you to know you're...his son." Stormflight had nodded and the older tom went on. "Well, if this helps...you might not be." Stormflight practically broke his neck he looked at the tom so fast. Badgerstrike's whiskers had twitched. "As you know, your mother and I were...together. As well. So, in theory, you could be my son," "But I have his eyes," Stormflight had whispered. "My mother had blue eyes," Badgerstrike had offered. "Your mother's father had blue eyes. It's not uncommon. My point is, just remember, even if you are his son, it's not your fault. It was chance." It wasn't much of a choice. A traitor or a psychopath. But it gave him hope. "I was hoping this didn't have to happen," Badgerstrike meowed. After the confrontation, he and Adderscar had gone into the clump of trees to talk alone. The ginger tom wouldn't look at him and Badgerstrike felt shame seeping into his very core. "I didn't want you to have to see me...to have to hurt. Adderscar, I was an idiot." No response. "I trusted the wrong cat. I just wanted...I didn't want to be alone any more." That earned him a glare. And then Adderscar opened his mouth. "You aren't alone. You had us. You had a family. And now? I'm alone forever. I can hear her, screaming for me. I wake up with her name on my tongue," he meowed hoarsely. "And besides the fact it was your fault she died," he spit the word out. "You knocked me out so I couldn't even be there to save her." "I made a mistake," Badgerstrike whispered. "Yeah. You did." Adderscar got up to leave but Badgerstrike stopped him. "I'm going to the Wilds. I'm going to leave and never come back. I just thought if you knew I'd helped save your friend, maybe you wouldn't hate me so much." "Why do you care?" Adderscar yelled. "You're practically my son." Badgerstrike meowed. "And I know how much you're hurting, I know it's my fault. And I just wanted to fix it." Adderscar looked at his paws and said nothing. "Adderscar..." he looked up to see Badgerstrike crouching down in front of him. "I know you loved her. And I'm so sorry. But learn to let her go a little. Enough so you have room to breath. You don't have to move on or forget. You just have to live." "But that's so hard." Adderscar said. His eyes gleamed and Badgerstrike wanted more than anything to give him a comforting lick. But he knew whatever forgiveness he'd gleaned would slip away. So he stood and said, "It doesn't get any easier. So get used to it." He turned, "Goodbye, kit." Badgerstrike padded into the dark. We were ecstatic. We got Grayleaf back and we liberated a whole prison camp. Just another day. Only Oakclaw was sad. He moped and I knew he was replaying the image. Shadowsong, across from him, separated by fire. I tried to comfort him, but he kept pulling away. Adderscar returned too, mute and eyes lost. No one asked. Badgerstrike had said his goodbyes. I would miss him. But in a way, he had been gone, almost dead to us, for moons. So this wasn't as hard to manage. We were about to turn in when Oakclaw pricked his ears. "FireClan," he meowed, a little too hopefully. Stormflight also sat up, eyes wide. A ghost padded into the clearing. A white pelted ghost with dark amber eyes and no emotion clouding her otherwise pretty face. Not a ghost. Snowflight. "Hey," she meowed, trying on a smile and finding it didn't really work. "Um...I'm here to help." Category:Artimas Hunter's Fanfics